February 2013

Luckily, here in Arizona, hail doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it can do serious damage. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), hail causes more than $1B in damage each year. It flattens crops, breaks windows, damages roofs, and dents cars. Even small hail stones can cause major problems because of the speed at which they hit, often approaching 90 miles per hour. The Insurance Information Institute reports that in 2011, Arizona experienced 20 hail events. In comparison to some other states, that number is very small, but as we learned in October of 2010, it only takes one storm to cause widespread losses. The best way to protect yourself and your property from damage is to know what to do when hail happens.

What is Hail?

Hail starts out as small chunks of ice that become larger when they collide with water droplets. The…